Beyond The Gate

July 22

The house I am living in is surrounded by a tall brick wall and the only way in and out is a large blue gate.  The gaurd opens and closes this gate for us as we drive in and out. So often we will get home, the gate closes, and I head into the house and quickly forget what is outside the walls of the compound. I will lay down on my nice bed and read a book, or I will fix myself something to eat, or I will pull a chair into the sun and spend some time with my Jesus. All the while I forget there are people sleeping on the ground next door, people who may have nothing to eat today, and people who do not even know who my Jesus is. When I leave through the gate I love playing with the children and buying bread and mangos from the corner vendor. But the second I come home I feel like I enter my safe little world of the compound and block out what is on the other side of the wall. This truly bothers me. I have prayed that God would remind me of where I am and my surroundings. I pray that He will nudge me to go outside rather than being comfortable and resting inside. How on earth do I forget the people beyond the gate?

The sad truth is that Africa is not the only place I struggle with this. And I am pretty positive some of you reading my blog struggle with it too right in America. Somehow we find ourselves in a safe, comfortable place in life and we don’t want to leave it. We turn off our hearts and our minds to things that are happening in our world right next door. It could be a neighbor who is so so wealthy but seems so so lonely. It could be that teenage girl with scars on her wrists who is your cashier at McDonalds searching for a life line. It could be someone in your family that you just want to make absolutely sure that they know the Lord but are avoiding that conversation. Or it could be, like me right now, the people right outside my gate who are looking for a little bit of hope and love. Somehow we manage to make excuses of why we don’t need to leave our place of comfort and show the love of Jesus to these people. We don’t need to make a move.

I can understand it actually. I mean, we are human and we like to be comfortable. I understand why we might forget about what is going on around us. After all, most of it is pretty sad and we like being happy so we try to pretend that it doesn’t exist. Also, making a move takes energy so if we ignore things going on around us we have no reason to get up. We say that single mom watching her kids play at the park doesn’t actually look as tired as she is. Even though we can see plain as day she is exhausted in more way than one we just shrug it off.  I’m sure she is fine. That’s what we do right? Make up excuses for why those people in our lives don’t really need us. They are okay.

I understand our human nature tricking us into thinking the reasoning of the previous paragraph is logical even though it is not.

But here is something that I don’t understand. After going outside the gate and putting yourself out there and feeling and seeing the difference it makes in your life and those around you, how can you forget any longer? This is something God is making me so aware of and challenging me with. I am thankful it happens much less now for me here in Burkina, but how at first did I so easily forget?! How do we all taste what the life of living outside the comfort zone is like and then be fine with sitting behind our safe walls knowing what is on the other side? How do we sleep at night if we have ignored the nudge to speak with that one person God laid on our heart? How after having the honor to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus can we be content to kick up our feet and get comfortable? All the while knowing Jesus put Himself in such an uncomfortable place as death in order to reach us.

My prayer for my last two weeks here in Africa is that I will spend every spare minute I have on the other side of that big blue gate. Even when I’m tired and want to rest or hungry and want to eat I pray that He gives me the heart to show His love to the people right outside of my comforts zone. I also pray for those of you reading this that God will not let you forget the people He has placed in your life and will give you the courage and strength to go beyond your gate.